Using Pressure Points

By Matthew Schafer
Copyright 2009, All Rights Reserved



Of all the subjects covered in martial arts schools I'd have to say that, after point sparring, "pressure points" is one of the ones that make me scratch my head the most. The term "pressure point" generally refers to an area of the body where a nerve sits just underneath the skin, and by pressing down on it you can cause sharp and sometimes severe pain. The term is broadened by the western medical community to mean any area of the body where applying direct pressure can result in some type of change within the body. For example, pressing down on an artery to slow bleeding is considered a use of a "pressure point". In Traditional Chinese Medicine the term is broadened even further to include areas where no nerves or arteries exist, but an invisible pathway (called a "meridian") of internal energy (called "chi" in Chinese, "ki" in Japanese, and "bio-energy" in the west) flows throughout the body.

In the west pressure points are pretty much divided into two types, one being points that cause pain and the other being points that cause light headedness or unconsciousness. A martial arts instructor will generally teach forms or sparring and then switch gears by sitting the class down and saying, "if you press here...the guy will scream. But, if you press here...the guy will dance for you", and then that's pretty much it. Most instructors only give instruction in pressure points to that degree, spots on the body that you can press down on and cause people pain.

Some other schools, mainly in the U.S., teach pressure points in a quite elaborate way. They talk about spots like "gallbladder 5" and a "triple warmer" and say that you can simply tap someone "here" and make them pass out, or you can strike them in a certain sequence you can make someone pass out. Unfortunately, if you hit them out of sequence or you're a 1/2 inch off on one of the points then it doesn't work. I know some people are really into this method, but if you think about that it's really a mess.

Thus far I've haven't been to a seminar on that type of pressure point use but I have seen it done on videos and spoken with people who have had first-hand training on it, and while I always try to keep an open mind, when I'm confronted with it the only thing I can think of is "how the hell are you going to pull this off when someone is trying to stab you to death?" If someone really does attack you and you're planning on locating and striking 3 tiny pressure points on his body in a certain order to incapacitate him the only thing I can say is, "good luck". When people are actually moving around and being aggressive you're not going to be able to access these tiny spots. You can find a tiny pressure point on someone's arm during class, but how are you going to find it when the guy's wearing a winter coat? And if you need to find and hit 3 or 4 points in a certain order to knock someone out while they're wearing street clothes and trying to seriously injure or kill you...well...if you can do it then you're the luckiest guy on Earth.

In the orient pressure points are taught a little differently than they are here. In China or Japan pressure points really aren't considered a separate part of your education. During your early stages of training an instructor might throw out a few pain inducing pressure points here and there mainly for fun, or as a possible way to make people comply with you. However, while these points, which are also points used in acupuncture, are very useful for medical purposes, their use for martial art purposes are mainly considered "tricks" or novelties. During the higher levels of training an instructor pretty much says, "here are the areas of the body where striking can cause the most damage...now hit them as hard as you can". The idea that you can gently press on pressure points or strike them lightly and make someone pass out or compels them to completely comply with you is for the most part a horrorably misguided western idea.

I saw a video on the internet awhile back where an old Japanese Kenpo Master was giving a demonstration on pressure points to a class of advanced students. He pointed out a point that causes unconsciousness and then told everyone to stand back because he was going to demonstrate its effects. Now, most people would think that he would gently press on the point or at most gently poke it and the guy would fall to the floor unconscious. I have to admit that is what I was expecting. However, what the old master did was to set his feet, and then he struck the guy so hard I thought he killed him. His partner came off of his feet and flew backward and into the floor. The old master then rushed over to revive him, and sure enough the guy was unconscious. The masters in the orient know very well that this "mamby-pamby" press or strike gently bullshit won't work.

In my classes I do teach pressure points as a separate subject because using pressure points has little use in real self-defense. Most people would say that the temple is a pressure point and the solar plexus is another pressure point but I call them "targets". To me, "targets" are areas of the body that are especially susceptible to impact trauma and I have my students train to hit them as hard as they can. In my class "pressure points" are spots on the body that you can press on and cause people pain. I regard them as sort of parlor tricks. Not really useful in real violence but if you're goofing around with your buddies, or you're in a social situation and you need to send someone a message via pain then they're great.

The idea of being in a violent attack and hunting and pecking for tiny little spots on your attacker's body is ridiculous, but there are some pressure points that are easy to find and do their job quite well. In an effort to simplify the topic of pressure points I'm going to discuss the ones that are most useful, from a purely functional standpoint. I've rated these points from one to eight, with one besting the most useful. The standard I used to rate them was 1.) Accessibility, 2.) Amount of pain resulting, 3.) Ease in locating the point, and 4.) Ease of applying pressure and being able to keep there while the other person tries to get away from you.

Pressure Point #1: The Eyes

Most people don't consider the eyes to be pressure points but I think that they're the best one on the body. If your goal is injury then the eyes are one of the easiest places on the body to injure. If your goal is pain compliance then the eyes are still number one. If you want to make someone stop what they're doing and dance for you then slowly press down on their eye. Just make sure that you use your other hand to hold their head because as soon as you'll do they'll fight rather violently to get away.

I understand that most people don't like the idea of using the eyes as pressure points and that is fine, but you still have to admit that functionally they do the job very well. They are large so they are easy to find. There are two of them so if you miss one you can come back and get the other. They are filled with nerves so applying pressure results in a great deal of pain. Also, the body goes to great lengths to protect them so by controlling the eyes you can take control of the entire body.

If I had someone standing in front of me and I wanted to drop them to their knees in pain and control them with a pressure point my first thought would be a thumb to the eye.

Pressure Point #2: The Testicles

Like the eyes, the testicles are usually easy to find and filled with very sensitive nerves. If you're goal is to press on something and force compliance through pain then a testicle is your good buddy. However, I do prefer the eyes over the testicles since the eyes are usually much easier to get at, after all the eyes are at eye level and not covered by denim. Generally if you can't get at the eyes then you can get at the groin, and if you can't get at the groin then you can get at the eyes.

The way to use the testicles as pressure points is to simply push your hand into the other person's groin and make a tight fist. You should be able to feel the testicles in your hand but if you aren't sure that you've got them just check to see if the other person is trying to curl into the fetal position.

You do need to be very careful with the testicles because you can cause them to rupture which would move the situation from pain compliance to actual injury. If you're goal is just pain compliance then grab them and squeeze gently, you only need a little pressure, and gauge the pressure needed on the other person's reaction.

Pressure Point #3: The Ribs

A person's ribs, especially the lower ones, are very vulnerable and there are plenty of nerves. If someone is grabbing you and you want to make them jump back and let go, just dig your fingers into their ribs. The reason that I like the ribs is because they're not something you have to hunt and peck for. They are large areas on the body and very easy to locate and get to, and when you dig your fingers into them people immediately try to get away.

There are four ways I teach people to press on the ribs. First is with the tip of your thumb. You simply make a tight fist and press the pad of your thumb against the side of the index finger, then dig the tip of the thumb in the ribs and try to push it right between two of them in a twisting motion. The second is with a knuckle. To do this you make a tight fist but put the knuckle of your index finger out a little bit and then press on the ribs in the same way. Third is using four knuckles instead of just one. You make a tight fist and use all four knuckles to dig and twist into the ribs.

Pressure Point #4: The Saphenous Nerve

The saphenous nerve runs down the inside of the leg and is very sensitive. The best way to use it is to reach between their legs, place your hand on their upper thigh, and use an eagle claw to grab as much meat as you can. If you put your hand on your own thigh and then firmly grab a big handful you'll realize how painful this is. This, as well as the groin, is great points to use when someone grabs you from behind.

I've rated this "point" after the ribs simply because the ribs are usually easier to get to then the thighs.

Pressure Point #5: The Jugular Notch

The Jugular Notch is the tender hollow area where your lower windpipe meets your sternum. It is very sensitive and there are two ways to utilize this as a pressure point. First, you can push anyone away from you by simply inserting two fingers there and pushing as hard as you can. This a great move to show young girls because with this a small female can push any size guy off of her.

The second way to use the jugular notch as a pressure point is to insert two fingers into it and then press in and down towards the ground. This variation is more of a controlling maneuver than the first. I like to grab the back of their head with my left hand to make sure they can't go anywhere and use my right to dig down into their jugular notch. It is a great way to make someone sit down.

Pressure Point #6: The Side of the Neck

The side of the neck is very easy to get to and there are a lot of nerves there which makes it very easy to get pain compliance. You simply place your thumb on the side of the neck, either side, a few inches down from the bottom of the ear and press. It can be anywhere in that area, it doesn't have to be that exact spot.

This is a great move for the law enforcement community to use when trying to cuff a resisting suspect. Instead of 4 officers trying to hold the person down, or use other means, they can apply force of the side of the person's neck and they will quickly become compliant. If they don't become compliant because of the pain then they'll soon become lightheaded and lose their strength enabling the officers to cuff them with little problem.

Pressure Point #7: Under the Nose

While some points are more painful for some people than others, this point is horrorable for pretty much everyone. This point is located between the bottom of the nose and top of the upper lip. To use this point you place the side of your index finger underneath their nose and then press in and up. It only takes a few seconds to make the eyes water profusely. Another version for when someone is standing in front of you is to grab the back of their head with your left hand and place the side of your right hand under their nose and use the side of your hand to apply pressure.

Pressure Point #8: The Back of the Arm

On the back of the arm just below the armpit there is a large bundle of nerves that are very sensitive. By grabbing the back of the arm with an eagle claw you can cause a lot of pain. However, it is often not too hard for them to be able to pull their arm away from you and out of your grasp.

While I teach using a lot of different areas of the body for striking, these eight areas are the only ones I teach to be used as pressure points. There are a few other points that are widely taught but I chose not to include them for functionality reasons. While these points, and others, do create a lot of pain when force is applied, they require you to look for them, which can make it almost impossible to find them during a violent altercation, and are quite small. For a pressure point to be really useful during a violent altercation it should be a fairly large area and not some tiny little spot. If the point is some tiny little spot then you won't have sufficient control over that area and someone can jerk away from you and suddenly your finger has moved 1/2 an inch and you've lost the spot. The spots discussed above are bigger areas (the ribs, back of arm, under the nose) instead of tiny spots.

Here are my four "honorable mentions" in no particular order.

Honorable Mention #1: Behind the Ear

This is a very popular pressure point. Right behind the bottom of the ear there is a hollow spot between the jaw and the neck where applying pressure can result in quite a bit of pain. I say "can result" because I know many people who are so receptive to this point that they almost live in fear of it, and I know many people don't find this very painful at all. To best stimulate this point insert the tip of your thumb in the hollow and press down hard while you twist your hand back and forth.

Honorable Mention #2: Under the jaw

If you feel underneath the jaw you'll find that the edges of the jaw are made of bone but everything in between them is soft tissue. To find the pressure point move up the jaw bone about half way between the tip of the jaw and the hinge where it connects to the skull. Put two fingers, or better yet the tip of your thumb, on that spot and then push it up under the bone into the soft tissue of the jaw's underbelly. This point exists on both sides of the jaw and most people find this incredibly painful.

The reason that I put this as an "honorable mention" and did not list it under the points that I teach is because, given it's location, there are just other points that are easier to get to and use. You can generally find this point easily and use it to cause severe pain but if someone jerks away from you, you generally lose the spot.

Honorable Mention #3: Finger nails

The finger nails are another point that are horrorably painful and easy to find, but it is very easy for someone to pull away from you and cause you to lose your pressure point. To use the finger nail, or toe nail, as a pressure point you grab a hold of the finger and press down on the top of the nail with the tip of your thumb. You want to press down on the very bottom of the nail right next to the cuticle for maximum pain.

Honorable Mention #4: Median nerve

The median nerve is a point that causes a lot of pain in pretty much everyone but it can be hard to find, especially on someone who does not have well defined arms. To find the median nerve point look at your arm while holding your palm towards the floor. Bend your arm slightly and look at the crease created in your elbow. Place the thumb of your other hand on the edge of the crease and move your thumb down towards the hand about a 1/2 an inch and the towards you about an 1/8 of an inch. The tip of your thumb should be right on the median nerve. You might have to press down and move it around slightly to find it's exact spot. Again this point is very painful but it can be hard to find (especially if the individual is wearing long sleeves or a thick coat) and they can usually pull away from you rather easily. This is a point used quite a bit in Aikido.

Honorable Mention #5: The Love Handles

There are several nerves in love handles that exist very close to the skin that can be easily used to cause pain, regardless of how much body fat a person has.

To use the hand handles as a pressure point, lay your hand flatly on their love handle, between their hips and their ribs. Think of imitating a lobster’s claws and squeeze the hand and try to touch the tips of your four fingers to your thumb.

Mindset vs. Action

By Matthew Schafer
Copyright 2009, All Rights Reserved


A lot has been written about the "fighting mindset" or "combat mindset". Pretty much every self-defense course talks at length about how you have to think a certain way to defend yourself and how you need to develop a "killer instinct". To tell you the truth I think this is more of a gimmick than anything else. The "combat mindset" or a "killer instinct" are esoteric ideas that allow a guru to sell books and videos for big bucks. Normally they bring it up in a column they write or spend a few minutes talking about it during a seminar and then let you know that, luckily for you, they sell a course that will tell you exactly how to develop it for just 4 payments of $39.95.

In reality, the whole idea of a "combat mindset" is over-rated. I'm going to let you in on a little secret: it is what you DO that is important. You can think anyway you want, the only thing that is really going to matter when someone is dragging you into the back room of a convenient store at gunpoint is the physical action you take. You can be scared shitless and ready to pass out from the fear, but, regardless of the condition of your mental faculties, if you suddenly grab a telephone off a desk and the turn and strike the attacker in the head as hard as you can and then run like hell, you're alive. You didn't think the telephone into the man's skull, you physically put it there.

Don't get me wrong, a certain state of mind is beneficial but it is not absolutely necessary. The necessary part is physically acting when you have to. Adopting a certain state of mind or way of thinking can definitely increase your chances of being able to act when you have to, but all it really does is prepare you mentally for the occurrence of violence and it is certainly possible to act without preparing. The process of preparing your mind for an occurrence of violence is what we'll cover next.

If you want to mentally prepare yourself for violence and increase the chances that you'll be able to act when you have to then the first thing you have to do is to REALIZE and ACCEPT is the fact that violence CAN happen to you and your family. Not only that, you have to REALIZE and ACCEPT that violence probably WILL happen to you or your family. Until you accept this truth you won't be mentally prepared for a violent altercation. When violence does happen your brain will think, "Wait a minute...this isn't suppose to happen!" and you'll be standing there frozen trying to process the event while it is happening. This is one reason why criminals get away with so many crimes, because their victims think that it will never happen to them they freeze like a deer in the headlights.

Once you realize and accept the fact that violence probably will happen to you or a loved one you need to make the simple decision not to be a victim. This may sound kind of odd but one reason many people don't fight back, even when they're being murdered, is because they don't know if they should fight back or let themselves be victimized. There have been a lot of people that have actually just stood there and let themselves be choked to death because they couldn't make up their mind and decide whether or not to try to resist.

It is as simple as saying to yourself, "I am not going to allow myself to be victimized". Once the reality that violence can and probably will happen to you is accepted, you allow your mind to open up and deal with the possibility of it happening. Then once you decide not to be a victim you give your mind a direction to go in when it does happen.

Next you need to learn exactly what your threats are likely to be, how they are likely to come after you, and then you need to develop a workable plan for when they do come after you. The difference between being a victim and being someone who successfully survives violence is having a workable plan beforehand. The reason criminals are so successful in committing their crimes is because they have a plan and know exactly what they're going to do and their victims don't. The importance of having an actionable plan for what you will do in a violent situation, and for having it before you step foot out your front door, cannot be stressed enough.

The next step is to educate yourself about self-defense and then take proactive steps to avoid crime and be on the lookout for it. You have to know the places where you're at risk and the places where criminals are most likely to attack you and you have to try to avoid those areas, and if you can't you have to consciously be on the lookout of criminals and other attackers. But again, these are actionable steps and not a special "combat mindset".

After that you have to understand that action always beats reaction. Action is offensive and reaction is defensive. Action takes control of the situation, charges forwards, and gets the job done, while reaction waits to see what the other person is going to do, then it decides what it will do based on what the other person did. Reaction is always a step or two behind.

In any potentially dangerous situation you need to take control and the way that you do it is by acting. If someone confronts you, tells you he has a gun, and then he starts to reach for it you should be taking action. Reaction would be waiting to see exactly what they do, letting them pull the gun, and then trying to play catch-up. Action is stepping in and driving your forearm into the guy’s throat the second he reaches for it. In any potentially dangerous situation action is always better then reaction.

This is one of the reasons why you should generally resist an attacker and always resist someone who is trying to abduct you. There are many people who have had someone try to kidnap them and by taking some type of action, often just yelling, biting, hitting, kicking, or turning and running away, they have created a situation where they could get away.

So we know that when something happens we're going to take control of the situation by acting rather than reacting and we have a plan so we know what we'll do when something does happen. As far as the mental preparation part of self-defense goes, that's the majority of it. By realizing, accepting, and deciding you've told your brain, "when this happens, I'm going to fight back", and by being knowledgeable about criminals, aware of your surroundings, and having a plan for when violence does happen it becomes far more likely that you'll act instead of react. Everything else in self-defense has to do with physical actions.

The only other aspects of mental preparation are to practice with both mental rehearsal and physical practice. Of course you should hit the mats and get some training time in but you should also spend 5 or 10 minutes a day mentally rehearsing an assault and seeing yourself, as clearly as you can, be proactive and striking your targets to end the situation. By mentally rehearsing your encounter you are further giving instruction to your brain and telling it what to do when you are faced with violence.

Now what about the actual encounter? Let's say that you've already done everything I've talked about above so you've prepared yourself mentally, and now you have a man standing in front of you trapping you against your car and threatening you with a knife. So now what do you do mentally? The answer is pretty simple, you focus on targets. The only way that you're going to stop this man from hurting you is to physically injure him so he is physically unable to attack you. The way you get this done is by driving as much force as possible into the weakest areas of his body...or in other words: striking targets. Since what you need to do is to access targets, what you should do is focus on them. The only thing that is going to save your life is by accessing his throat, temple, carotid artery, liver, knee, etc., so they are what you should be focusing on.

It doesn't matter what that man plans to do with his knife, his plans won't save you. The only thing that matters is to be proactive and get to his temple with a hammer-fist strike and drive all of your bodyweight all the way through until he hits his head on the ground. That is the only thing that will save you, targets, so that is what you should be focusing on.

There is another benefit of making yourself focus on targets and that is by making your brain focus on targets it isn't free to panic. It is ok if you feel fear because fear is a natural feeling that we have little control over; it is panic that we need to avoid because panic can lead to freezing like a deer in the headlights. Panic happens when your brain has no direction and is free to do whatever it wants. By directing your brain to focus on targets you are giving it a task to do so it won't have the free time to make you freeze with fear.

That's pretty much it, "combat mindset"/"killer instinct" in a nutshell. So save your 4 payments of $39.95 for something you really want...or if you really enjoyed this article you can always send them to me.

Knives, Other Tools, and I Compare Jim Wagner To A Condom

By Matthew Schafer
Copyright 2009, All Rights Reserved

The other day a friend informed me that he had made a decision. For the past six years he has studied the Japanese art of Jujitsu and he is very talented and extremely proud of his black belt. Save except a few instances, for those six years he has diligently attended class twice a week and always leaves drenched in sweat and every now and then he leaves with a small bit of blood on his uniform (usually not his own). However, now he feels that he's getting older (he's 56) and he can't take the punishment of going to class that much so for now on he's only going to attend classes every other week.

He said that the only reason he goes to class so much is that he wants to be prepared to defend himself and his wife should he ever need to, so he has to be able to keep up with the "young guys". After years of being thrown around and having his joints twisted in all sorts of odd shapes he now feels that its time to take it easier and for a few years he has wanted to cut down on is training. The reason that he hasn't until now is that he feels that if he isn't constantly practicing in the dojo if something was to happen he might not be in top form to take care of it.

"So, what's changed?" I asked him, "why are you now deciding to cut down on your training when you weren't comfortable doing that a year or two ago?"

He leaned towards me with a grin that made me just a little uncomfortable and said, "I'm going to cheat".

"Well that's between you and your wife, but what does that have to do with Jujitsu?" I asked

"No," he said with a pissed off grimace, "I'm going to start carrying a knife". He reached in his pocket and pulled out a black folding knife and handed it to me. "I figure if I start carrying a knife and use that as my first line of defense then I can back off on Jujitsu a little. If some teenage bastard tries something with me I'm going to cut him up first, and then if I lose my knife I'll use my Jujistu."

I did my best to try to bite my tounge, that was until I opened the knife. It was black and it looked like something you'd see in a futureistic military movie. Just looking at it you could tell that is was designed for stabbing someone to death, and to top it off on the blade it said in big letters: Jim Wagner Reality Based Blade.

"Saved by the Bell the College Years!" I shouted (I'm trying to stop swearing), "First of all you bought a Jim Wagner product? Really? That guy is a barnackle on the taint of the self-defense/martial arts industry. Learning from Jim Wagner is like getting your rapist to wear a condom, things might turn out a little better than they otherwise might be, but not much! And look at this knife! Do you honestly think that you're going to be able to carry this and not have it either taken away from you by the cops or end up in prison? If you ever have to use it against someone the prosecuter is going to take one look at it and infer your intent based on the kind of knife you're carrying."

I understand his thought process but it really doesn't work that way. Carring a weapon, any weapon, is not an excuse to cut back on your self-defense training. If you decide to carry a gun and you're smart enough to take a course in defensive shooting, your instructor, provided he's worth his salt, will tell you that chances are that you'll have to use your empty hand skills first.
If you can see a situation coming and draw your gun in advance then it's a good day, but chances are you'll end up having an attacker confront you at very close range, within a few feet, and you'll have to use your self-defense techniques to at the very least push your attacker back to give you time and room to get at your gun, pull it out, aquire your target, and effectively operate it. Most defensive shooting instructors will tell you that you're probably going to have to deal with the first attacker bare handed and then, provided you have time, you can deal with any additional attackers with your firearm. The knife is no different.

As far as the exact knife goes, DON'T buy some fancy fighting knife!! If you buy some fancy "Jim Wagner, I'm Going To Kill Somebody" knife then the cops and the district attorney are going to, at the very least, hold you to a higher standard, and, in the extreme, think that you went looking for trouble.

I do carry a knife with me but it is for utility purposes. I carry a simple pocket knife that is sharp, clipped to my pocket, and has a blade within the legal limits. If need be I could use my knife for self-defense, as I could any knife, so I simply don't need to spend a butt-load of money on some fancy "combat" knife that advertises to the world that you have a knife and you're looking for an opportunity to pull it.

Like everybody, I'd rather be judged by twelve than carried by six, but those twelve...they're a bitch.

The Effectiveness of Pepper Spray

By Matthew Schafer

Copyright 2009, All Rights Reserved

Recently an article ran in Black Belt Magazine entitled "The Spice of Life" where the author discussed the uses of pepper spray and made the assertion that pepper spray was the "end-all-be-all" self-defense weapon. After that article ran people wrote letters to the editor disputing the author, and then the author wrote back disputing the letters. The basic area of contention was the effectiveness of pepper spray against an attacker and so I'm writing this article to address that matter.

The author stated that when sprayed with pepper spray every single human, or animal, would suffer its effects and stop in their tracks, unable to continue their assault. Those who wrote in stated personal experience where pepper spray was not effective. Many stated that they were either soldiers or police officers who had to be sprayed with pepper spray during their training, or had used pepper spray in a real violent encounter, and that they'd seen many people not be affected by it or even laugh at being sprayed. The statistic put forth is that one in every ten people is not affected by pepper spray.

Personally I think the "1 in 10" statistic is a bunch of crap. For years I've worked with pepper spray and I've never met anyone that was either not effected by it or could fight through its effects. Now, I have seen people who where not 100% incapacitated after being sprayed but they could not negate the effects of the pepper spray through force of will or being "tough". After being sprayed these particular people were still on their feet but they were in a lot of pain, couldn't open their eyes, and were having trouble breathing. They were blind, grunting, coughing, using one hand to rub the pepper spray off their faces, and using the other hand to search for their opponent that they'd never find unless they walked up to them and allowed themselves to be grabbed.

I believe that the reason some people were unable to get the desired effects with pepper spray is mainly due to human error. So here I will discuss the four human error based reasons that I believe have caused the "1 in 10" statistic to come about.

Reason #1: Not actually using pepper spray. "Pepper spray" is a specific term for a specific product but it has come to be used generally to refer to all types of defense sprays. In reality there are chemical sprays (mace and tear gas) and pepper sprays. Chemical sprays are made using either a chemical called "orthoclorobenzalmalonitrile" (called "CS" for short) or a chemical called "alphachloroacetaphenone" (called "CN" for short). "CS" and "CN" are both chemicals that irritate the moist porous linings of the eyes, nose, and throat and cause the body to respond by trying to flush them out by the involuntary watering of the eyes, running of the nose, coughing, and in some cases vomiting. This is very unpleasant and painful and in most individuals it is quite debilitating.

There are several problems with using "CS" and "CN" to stop a violent attacker; in most cases the effects aren't that severe and their stopping power comes down to the attacker's pain tolerance and willingness to endure the discomfort caused by the chemical. Some people actually can fight through the effects of various chemical sprays which is why more and more police departments have stop using them in favor of actual pepper spray. Also, some people's biology renders them partially or even fully immune to the effects of both "CS" and "CN". In most cases where people spray someone with "pepper spray" and the person is unaffected, or only effected in a minor way, it is because they're actually using a chemical spray (mace) with the active ingredient being "CS" or "CN" and not real pepper spray.

Another factor is that many studies have shown that it can take up to 30 seconds for someone to feel the effects of "CS" or "CN". So you can come at me and I can give you a face full of mace and you're still going to have time to stab me to death before you succumb to its effects.

The active ingredient in actual pepper spray is "Oleoresin Capsicum" (called "OC" for short) and instead of being a chemical compound it is concentration of pepper extracts. Instead of irritating the moist porous tissues of the eyes, nose, and throat it inflames them in a way that is quite severe. It's like getting hot sauce in your eyes, only about a thousand times worse. It does not matter how big, strong, determined, or skilled someone is, or if they are under the influence of drugs, if they get "OC" in their face it will become inflamed. Their eyes will water and be forced shut so they cannot see, their nose will run uncontrollably, their throat will become inflamed and their breathing will be affected so they will cough uncontrollably, and throughout their face and throat they will experience a severe and extremely painful burning sensation. Not being able to see and having problems breathing they will want to sit or lay down and wipe the "OC" out of their eyes, however, they'll end up rubbing the "OC" deeper into their eyes and spreading around their face, helping it enter their nose and mouth. The more they try to wipe it away the more they spread it.

Imagine taking a habanero pepper (one of the hottest peppers), cutting it in half, and then rubbing it all over your face and in your eyes. The result would be excruciatingly painful and you wouldn't be able to fight anyone right afterwards, not effectively anyway. The strength/heat of pepper spray is measured in "Scoville Heat Units" (SHU) and the rating of that hadanero pepper is between 200,000 to 300,000 SHU. Most pepper sprays (with "OC" being the active ingredient) rate at about 2,000,000 SHU, so the pepper spray would be about 9 to 10 times hotter and the effects 9 or 10 times more severe.

On several occasions when I've been training with pepper spray I've had the wind blow a small amount back in my face and with only a very small amount coming into contact with my skin I can say that I'd never want to be sprayed with a full dose. Only an extremely small amount came back at me and it felt like my face was on fire; I had a very hard time keeping my eyes open and was coughing uncontrollably. Many people have talked about dogs not being effected by pepper spray but again they used "CS" or "CN" . One day while I was out for a walk a rottweiler charged me and I turned my head and sprayed in its direction and as soon as it entered the cloud of spray it stopped in its tracks and then started rubbing its face in the dirt and wheezing.

The effects of "OC" occur rapidly so there is no waiting 15-30 seconds for your attacker to stop and given a sufficient dose of pepper spray someone can have their vision and breathing be disrupted for 45 minutes or longer. There was a case in Cheyenne, Wyoming a few years ago where a woman sprayed a mugger with "OC" and when the police arrived on the scene 35 minutes later the attacker was still laying on the ground.

Simply put, using "OC" has been proven to be effective while "pepper sprays" that are actually just chemical sprays consisting of "CS" or "CN" have a level of effectiveness that I wouldn't bet my life on.

It should also be noted that some pepper sprays are actually "pepper sprays". There are many pepper sprays on the market that do contain a small amount of "OC" but their active ingredient is really "CS" or "CN". Years back I was talking to a potential client on the phone and when I mentioned pepper spray she became somewhat hostile. She told me a story about how she had used pepper spray on a date rapist and it hadn't worked. She mentioned that she still had the pepper spray and I asked her to bring it in with her when she came in for training and sure enough it was "pepper spray". It was a cheap product she purchased for $10 in the sporting goods department at a grocery store and under "active ingredient" it said:

Alphachloroacetaphenone, Red Pepper. It was primarily "CN" and only a small amount of "OC" and that is why it didn't work.

If you buy pepper spray you want Oleoresin Capsicum (sometimes listed as "OC" or just "Red Pepper") to be the one and only ingredient. I've tested a lot of brands on the market and the only one I carry and provide to my clients is "Sabre Red: Maximum Strength Pepper Spray". I firmly believe that Sabre Red provides the best pepper spray on the market and having spent nearly 23 years in the self-defense industry I wouldn't carry anything else.

I live in Michigan and we have a law that states that you cannot carry pepper spray that has more than a 2% concentration and luckily Sabre Red has a special "Michigan Formulation". So my experiences are with a 2% formulation and I find it to be extremely effective; in other states you can carry sprays of much higher concentration of "OC" and I can't even imagine what it would feel like to sprayed with an 8% or 9% concentration.

Reason #2: Using expired sprays. Pepper spray ("OC") only retains its maximum potency for four years. There are a lot of people out there walking around with expired canisters of pepper spray and they don't know it.

When you buy pepper spray you should only buy it from a reputable dealer, make sure that it has the expiration date printed on it before you buy it, and then check the date as soon as you get it. I know quite a few people who try to save money by buying pepper spray online for around $6 a canister and when they get it they find out that it is either already expired or very close to expiring. If they used those fancy novelty sprays on an attacker I don't believe it would do anything other than make them angry.

Reason #3: Used too small of dose. I saw a video on youtube awhile back that showed army personnel doing a drill where they got sprayed with pepper spray and then had to run an obstacle course. My first problem with that is that I doubt they used "OC" because if they did I don't think the soldier could have seen to negotiate the course. I also know that most law enforcement agencies, military included, use chemical sprays instead of "OC" so chances are that is was just mace.

My second problem is that the soldier was only given about a half second dose. In a dose that small you can't guarantee that it will even get in the eyes, nose, or mouth. In a self-defense situation you spray the person until they grab their face and make strange noises. In my experience, as soon as you spray someone in the face with "OC" they stop their attack, but from the time you spray someone until the time they turn away and start coughing it can be around 3 seconds. 3 seconds worth of "OC" in your face is a lot and the effects will be extreme. I got maybe a quarter of a second worth of blow back in my face and that was enough for me, a direct 3 second spray in the face is enough to disable anyone.

Reason #4: They missed their target. When you spray someone you want to aim for the center of their face so the spray will get into their eyes, nose, and mouth. However, a lot of the times people miss. I've seen a lot of videos on the internet as well as clips from COPS and other TV shows where a police officer sprays in the general direction of the suspects face, and then acts surprised when they don't drop. Often they start shaking the can to make sure it's mixed up before they spray again, as if that makes a difference.

It's just like everything else: you have to hit your target. It doesn't matter if you're using a fist, a knife, a gun, or a defense spray, if you don't hit your target you're not going to put the person down. Most people I know have pepper spray but don't train with it. I always recommend that people buy four canisters: one for your house, one for your car, one to carry, and the other to train with. You have to spray it and you have to practice with it if you expect to be able to use it under duress. You have to be able to look at someone and then spray it right into the center of their face. I always tell people to look at the tip of their attacker's nose because if they can get it on their nose they it will splash both up into the eyes and down to the mouth.

If someone tells me that they sprayed someone in the face with pepper spray and it didn't stop them within a second or two I ask them if "OC" was the active ingredient, and the I ask them how their targeting was. Often people completely miss the face and instead get it in their hair, where it takes 10 or 20 seconds to drip down to their eyes, or maybe they just get it on their clothes and they don't get it into their face until they use their sleeve to rub their face awhile later.

Most people don't think about targeting, they just point and shoot. Point and shoot doesn't work effectively fist or a foot, it sure doesn't work with a firearm, and it doesn't work with pepper spray either.

Color Codes of Mental Awareness

By Matthew Schafer
Copyright 2009, All Rights Reserved


Most of us go through life unaware and unprepared for criminal violence, and the result of this is that it makes us both desirable and easy for the criminal element. By using such tools as the "Color Conditions of Mental Awareness" we can put ourselves in a mode to both recognize and deal with criminals and violent crime when they do enter our lives.

What follows is a description of the four conditions, or states of mind, that you can use to prepare yourself for crime and violent encounters. The reason that they are so effective is because it gives you an objective scale of determining your threat level and then gives you clear steps to follow. The effectiveness of this method is the reason why most every military unit and self-defense expert uses some variation of it.

Condition White: Unaware and Unprepared
Condition White is the condition that most people are in most of the time. In this condition you are moving through life unaware of your surroundings and totally unprepared for the event that something, violent or not, could happen. Being in this condition you’re not only an easy victim for any criminal but you're also a criminal's ideal target. Criminals leave their homes in the morning and spend their time scouring their surroundings for people in Condition White because they are the easiest victims.

If you're caught in Condition White then you're an easy victim regardless of who you are or how much training you have. Even if you're a police officer, a Navy SEAL, or a 7th Degree Black Belt a criminal will have little problem taking you by surprise and overwhelm you before you realize what is going on.

Examples of a person in Condition White: Someone walking down the street with their head in the clouds, completely oblivious to everything going on around him.
A person sitting on a park bench on a beautiful spring day engrossed in a good novel or immersed in the newspaper, completely oblivious to everything going on around him.
A person driving to work- mentally already at work- completely oblivious to everything going on around him.

Condition Yellow: Relaxed and alert.

Condition Yellow is where you want to be in everyday life. In this condition you're not paranoid or stressed out but rather you're just relaxed and aware of your surroundings. You know that something could possibly happen but it also could not.

Just by being in Condition Yellow you're less likely to be picked on by a criminal because they don't want to pick someone who may spot them in advance and run away or resist when they're assaulted. The two things that a criminal doesn't want is to draw attention to themselves and to find themselves going up against someone who will fight back and could hurt them. By being aware of your surroundings they see that they would have a difficult time taking you by surprise and most criminals will just move on to someone else.

Condition Yellow, is where you want to be. It's not difficult. It's not a state of paranoia. You don't think everyone is out to get you. You know that there is a 98% chance that absolutely nothing will happen but you also know that maybe there's a 2% chance that something will, so you're just going to be more alert so you can see it coming if it does.

Condition Orange: You Notice A Potential Threat

Having been in Condition Yellow you've noticed something that could be a potential threat. Maybe it is someone watching you or just loitering around in an area where they don't need to be. Now you move from Condition Yellow, being relaxed and alert, to being in Condition Orange. You've noticed something and you don't know whether it is a real threat, imagined one, or just a harmless situation.

In Condition Orange you need to continue to be aware and alert but you need to do two additional things:

1.) Make some type of an evasive maneuver that forces your opponent to show his hand. Example: I’m walking down the street in Condition Yellow and I see a man loitering around by a building about half a block ahead. I notice that he looks nervous (a possible indicator of a criminal looking for a target) and when I make eye contact with him he quickly looks away. Someone quickly diverting their eyes when you make eye contact (in security often called the “look away”) is a possible sign that you caught him doing something he should be doing, like sizing you up for an assault. If you were in Condition White you would have never notice him and his behavior and continued to walk right up to him, but because you were in Condition Yellow you did notice him and now you can do something about it.

You stop and look 360 degrees around you to look for possible accomplices and you see none, so you look at him and then cross the street to put distance between the two of you. If he's not a criminal then there is no threat and he'll say where he is as you cross the street and walk way, but if he is a criminal then now he has to make a decision. Either he has to let you go and target someone else, or he was to follow you and give himself away.

The basic evasive maneuver is to simply put distance between you and the potiential threat and see if the potential threat closes that distance. Another one is do something unexpected, like suddenly turn around and walk back the other way or duck into a nearby store, and see if the potential threat makes an effort to do it too.

There are other ways to make evasive maneuvers that force possible criminals to show their hands. For example, let's say that you are playing with your child at a public playground and you notice a man sitting on a park bench watching the kids. He isn't dressed like most parents and doesn't seem to be watching any one child in particular and just something about him seems out of place. You think that maybe he could be a threat to the children there. What could you do to make him show his hand? How about going over and talking to him. You could walk over and introduce yourself, using a fake name if you wanted to, and ask which child is his. Either he has a child there or another good reason for being there and his is not a threat, or he was to lie or leave. If he says he has a child there then ask him to point him out and then ask his name. If he says his name is "Timmy" turn to the kid and yell, "HI TIMMY" and see if the kid responds. If he says that he has a child there but right now he is not visible for some reason ask him why and how old the kid is. The point here is just to ask him questions and make him feel uncomfortable and in almost every case he'll leave if he really doesn't have a good reason for being there.

2.) Formulate a plan in the event that the threat is real. In the first example I gave above my plan could be that if the loitering man crossed the street after me I’m going to start running. I would also make sure that I had my pepper spray in my hand and if he gets too close I’d spray him and then run away. If none of that works I’m going to step in and either hit the eyes, throat, or groin depending on what I see first. Or maybe there is a police station nearby that I can get to or a populated area that I can enter because criminals usually won’t strike in places with witnesses.

So, first I’m going to take some type of evasive maneuver that creates a situation where the potential threat has to follow me thus revealing himself to be a threat, or not follow me and reveal that he does not attend to do me harm. You want to do something out of the ordinary that will make it obvious that he’s following you and not just a coincidence. If I’m in a car I can make four right turns in a row to end up right where I began and see if he makes them with me. Maybe I’ll suddenly turn into a parking lot, zig-zag through it, and then drive out and see if he’s still with me. If I’m on foot I can make abrupt starts and stops, then make abrupt turns and walk in different directions and see if he does to. You can also change speeds and see if they try to keep up.

As far as the plan goes, 9 times out of 10 the best plan is just to get out of there and put as much distance as possible between you and the threat. Don’t go home or to another location you frequent because maybe you’ll lead them there, so go to a police station or other crowed area. Try to get away from them. One of the reasons pepper spray is so effective is that you can spray them from a distance and then run away while they are left there with watery eyes trying to stop coughing.

Condition Red: Identified a Real Threat

This condition exists when you have identified a real threat. You started out in Condition Yellow and you spotted the nervous man loitering around so you went into Condition Orange and crossed the street while formulating a plan. Now you see that he is following you. He’s looking straight at you, walking towards you in a hurried manner, and putting his hands in his pockets so there is no doubt that he is a threat.

You already have your plan of action from being in Condition Orange so in Condition Red you have to decide on your "trigger".
A "trigger" is an action that he has to take before you'll respond with what you've planned. It is "line in the sand" so to speak that you will not tolerate being crossed. You might say, "Right now he's crossing the street and it looks like he could be coming after me. Ok...my plan was to start running and get to a crowed area, so when he gets to this side of the street I'm going to cross back to the other side and if he crosses after me that will be my trigger and I'll run like hell." Or, "He's crossing the street and looking right at me, he's definitely coming after me. My plan is to spray him in the face with pepper spray until he grabs his face and starts screaming, and then run away and get someplace safe. I have my pepper spray in my hand and I'm ready to use it...let's see...when he gets to his side of the street and comes towards me I'm going to tell him to 'stop'. After that if he takes another step I'll let him have it." In this instance taking another step after being told to "stop" is the trigger.

Ideally you want to develop a plan of action before you even leave the house that day and you want to decide on basic "triggers", or things that you will not let people get away with. However, during a specific situation you need to come up with situation specific triggers and be ready to back them up.

If you’re in your car and you’ve identified that someone is following you then maybe your plan is to drive to the closest police station. Your “trigger” might be if they bump you with their car, or they get out of their car, or they try to box you in. If they try to do any of these things you might say, “Ok, if they do those then I’m going to step on the gas, drive over a curb if I have to, drive on the sidewalk if I have to, hit the guy in front of me if I have to, I going to do what ever I need to, to get to the police station. If I can’t and they walk up to my car I’m going to use my concealed firearm to shoot them”. You could also have decided to jump out of your car and run away as fast as you can, but the point is that you have a plan and you’ve decided what line they’re going to have to cross in order for you to execute it.

If you don’t go to condition Red, if you stay in condition White, Yellow, or Orange, then you simply won’t be mentally or physically prepared for an actual attack. You may have identified the threat and made a plan but if you don’t go to condition Red and decided on your trigger and response you’ll most likely stand there frozen.

So in Condition Red you are going to get ready to enact your plan and decide on what "trigger", what "line in the sand", will be your cue to do it.

Condition Black: Attack In Progress

In this condition your attacker(s) has tripped your “trigger” and you are taking action. This is the point where you need to be following through on your plan and taking action, whether it is turning and running away, using a personal defense weapon like a firearm or pepper spray, or using your body to cause injuries.

The only way to effectively be able to survive a "black condition" is to train and to practice scenarios. You need to get the education and training to be order to deal with violence and you need to practice with realistic scenarios.


An important point I want to make is that these conditions are laid out in a gradually increasing manner. We started in Condition Yellow, then went to Orange, then to Red, and finally to Black. However, it is very possible, even likely, that in a real violent encounter it will not happen that way. Chances are that your attacker will make every effort to attack you by surprise and they just might pull it off. Being in Condition Yellow will greatly increase your chances of seeing an assault coming even then you might miss a cue or just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

What I'm trying to get at is that you might have to from Condition Yellow straight to Condition Black. You might turn a corner and there he is. You might be getting into your car and suddenly you’re hit from behind. You might be sitting on the couch watching a movie with an acquaintance that has had too much to drink and suddenly they're on top of you tear your clothes.

An ideal situation would have us smoothly go from Yellow to Orange, to Red, and to Black but we have to realize a situation might force us to jump a Condition or too. That is another reason why we have to develop our plan and a few basic "triggers" before we even leave the house in the morning.

The last thing I'll discuss here is one final Condition, we'll call it Condition Bright Red.

Condition Bright Red: Tense and Paranoid

This is Condition you'll see people in every now and then and it really is unfortunate. Some people just live in survival mode and spend all their time tensed up and suspiciously looking at everyone. The problem with this is that you can only spend so long in this kind of condition before you burn yourself out and suffer health problems. Normally people put themselves in this condition and make it there normal state and after awhile they get so tired they end up in Condition White without even noticing it.

If you find yourself in this Condition you need to recognize it and realize that it will do you no good. There is a very short line from being in Condition Bright Red and being in Condition White. If you find yourself here you need to make yourself stop what you’re doing, take a slow deep breath, and consciously put yourself into Condition Yellow. A great way to do this is to force yourself to do something fun. Tensed and paranoid is no way to live, and if you decide to live there you'll probably be living there alone.

A Matter of Responsibility

By Matthew Schafer

Copyright 2009, All Rights Reserved

I'm a stanch supporter of the Second Amendment. I believe that it was the intention of our founding fathers that everyone in this country should have access to firearms in order to protect themselves, and that the people should have the ability to form armed militias in order to protect themselves from their government. Our founding fathers saw first hand what happens when the people are left unarmed, defenseless, and at the mercy of corrupt rulers. The people should have the ability to hold the government accountable for their actions and I think that that starts with having the freedom of speech, an open forum for discussion, and the strength and confidence that comes with being armed.

Having access to firearms and the right to privately own them is something that I believe goes hand in hand with being an American. Most people are surprised to learn that in many countries it is actually illegal to own a gun. It is illegal to privately own a gun in Australia, England, and several other European countries. The privilege of access and ownership of firearms by its citizens is something that truly makes American special. In fact, I know several people who came to this country primarily because owning firearms was illegal in their country and they equated private ownership of firearms with freedom.

While I firmly believe that the right to own firearms is essential to freedom and the survival of this country, I think that there are certain people that shouldn't be allowed to own them or have access to them. In my opinion ownership of firearms should be denied to people who committed violent crimes, used a firearm in the commission of a crime, have mental illnesses, physical handicaps that would inhibit the person's ability to effectively use a firearm, and minors. Firearms are great tools but they are also a great responsibility and these people don't have the ability to responsibly and effectively use them.

Guns are greatly demonized in this country and people like to blame them for violence. How stupid and asinine is this? Blaming a death on a gun is like blaming a pencil for spelling errors. Guns are not and never will be the problem. The problem is that 1.) People don't have the training to effectively handle and use guns, and 2.) People are violent by nature.

Back in the 1940's and 1950's gun handling and marksmanship was actually taught in many schools. A lot of schools had shooting clubs and small gun ranges in their basement where students would learn how to fire .22 caliber rifles. I seriously wish that schools would start this again. The number one reason that kids shoot each other with their parent's guns isn't because the guns were evil, it’s because the parent's failed to teach their kids how to treat and handle guns. Parents want to keep guns from children and it's in this ignorance about guns that kids get hurt when they come upon one.

A few months back I was babysitting my 8 year old niece and we ran out of things to do so I spent about an hour teaching her gun safety. We talked about guns, what they do, what they're for, and what she should do if she ever finds one. I got out a couple pistols and showed them to her and answered her questions about them. I told her that if she ever finds a gun she should leave it alone and go find an adult and that she should only touch a gun if she absolutely has to. I recognized that there may be times when she might have to touch a gun, for example, maybe she comes upon a gun in a park and she cannot leave it there with smaller kids running around so she has to hide it someplace while she fetches an adult. Therefore, while unloaded, I let her handle the guns and I showed her how to properly handle them. We went over always keeping them pointed in a safe direction, never touching the trigger, never playing with them, assuming that they're loaded, and places that they can put guns for safe keeping while they fetch an adult. We never fired a gun and her finger never touched the trigger, the hour was spent learning what to do if she ever finds a gun and how to safely handle a gun if she has to.

We also talked quite a bit about distinguishing between toy guns and real guns. A major problem is that toy guns are everywhere to the extent that when a kid finds a gun they often think it's a toy. I watched an episode of 20/20 and they did a report on guns where they put a bunch of unloaded and disabled guns in a room full of children’s toys and let a bunch of preschoolers play in it. Parents where shocked when their children pulled the guns out of the plastic tubs and pretended to shoot each other, but what did they expect? If you put a gun in a brightly colored plastic pale with a bunch of toys then guess what...the kids aren't going to know that it isn't a toy!! Being able to tell the difference between a toy gun and a real gun is one of the first things that kids should learn about guns.

I wish my father had done the same for me when I was young and that other parents would do the same but that is wishful thinking. Actually the next day my sister called me in a rage because my niece told her that I taught her about gun safety. My sister was furious because not only did I talk about guns with her but because I let her touch a gun. While in hindsight perhaps I should have discussed it with her before we did it, but I won't apologize for teaching my niece something her parents should have taught her long ago. I'm thoroughly confident that if my niece came upon a gun she would leave it alone, find an adult, and only touch it if she had to. I'm also thoroughly confident that if I hadn't gone over gun safety with her and she came across a gun in a park or at a friend's house that she might think it was a toy and shoot herself or someone else with it.

We all recognize that a child might have to cross a road so we make sure we teach them how to do is safely; we all recognize that a child might have to confront an angry dog, or be offered a cigarette, or use kitchen knives, or do a thousand other things so we make sure that we teach them how to do those things safety. So, why not realize that our children might come across a gun and might just have to handle that gun and teach them to do is safely so they don't kill themselves?

People don't seem to understand that guns don't jump up and kill people. Guns only fire if they're loaded and someone pulls the trigger. The reason why so many people accidentally get shot with guns is that the people handling them don't know what their doing. Christ, most people that carry guns for a living don't really know how to safety handle them let alone effectively use them.

Next you have the fact that people are inherently violent. People are violent and they like to kill, period. Violence has NOTHING to do with guns. Right now people do their killing with guns because it is easy and they have one, but if you take away their guns then they'll do their killing with knives, bows and arrows, poisons, or explosives; take those away and they'll do their killing with sticks, take their sticks away and they'll do their killing with rocks. Some people think that if you take the guns away then the killings will stop, but that's not only wrong, it’s also not addressing the real problem. If you go to a crime filled city and take away all the guns, the only thing that will really change is that they'll be a dramatic rise in the number of stabbings. Some people just want to kill, and if you take away weapon "A" then they'll just grab weapon "B".

Look at Africa. In Africa you can buy an AK-47 for the equivalent of $2. People over there use those AK-47's to massacre each other all the time. What happens when they run out of ammunition? What happens when for whatever reason those rifles aren't available? Does the killing stop? NO! They grab machetes, they grab knives, they grab rocks and the killing continues without missing a beat.

Violence is human nature and to blame guns is just stupid. The truth is that it’s easy to blame guns for violence but its a lot more difficult to address the real problem. Politicians blame guns because its the easy way out, because to address the actual problems with society will offend certain people and god forbid someone gets offended. In this society to offend someone is the greatest crime you can commit.

I'm a supporter of gun control to a certain extent. Like I stated above I think that there are certain people that shouldn't be allowed to own guns because they lack the ability to responsibly and effectively use them; I also think that you shouldn't be allowed to own a gun until you complete a rigorous training course. You should have to take a course that thoroughly addresses the law, safe handling of guns, shooting, and defensive/combat use of the weapon. You should have to at least 30 hours of actual shooting before you're allowed to own a gun.

The thing that we need in this country isn't necessarily gun control, its education. People need to be taught how to handle, fire, and use guns and if everyone had that training you wouldn't see all these accidental shootings, you probably would even see a severe reduction in gun violence.

The last thing I'll say about this subject is that criminals will have guns, period. There is nothing that we can do to keep criminals from getting guns, just like there was nothing we could do to keep people from drinking alcohol. If we don't allow law abiding citizens to own and carry guns then the only people who will have guns will be criminals.

Foiling Surprise Attacks With Footwork

By Matthew Schafer

Copyright 2009, All Rights Reserved

Regardless of where you live or what circles you travel in, most attacks occur by surprise. If someone is going to attack you they're not going to slap you across the face with a glove, state that they demand satisfaction, and then put their hands up and start dancing. What is far more likely to happen is that an attacker jumps you from behind. What I'm going to go over in this article is two simple maneuvers that will allow you to thwart common surprise attacks.

The first common surprise attack is widely used by criminals and is known as "bait and switch" as well as several other names. The way this is done is an attacker will walk up to you from the front and try to distract you by either asking for something or by becoming aggressive. While the first attacker is distracting you another attacker(s) comes up behind you and either attacks you from behind or holds you so the first attacker and repeatedly strike you. This method works very well because few people see it coming.

The best way to counter this is to not stop when the first attacker trys to distract you. When you see him you can simply change directions and walk across the street or start running and push past him. If you cannot do that, when you see someone come up to you from the front you should immediately assume a second individual is present and turn and look for him. It is how you turn and look at them that is important.

When you see the first attacker come up to you, you should first look and see where his hands are to see if he is making fists, cupping his hands (concealing a weapon), has his hand in a pocket, has one of his hands behind his back, or has one arm held stiff while the other one swings naturally. All of these things are signs that he has a weapon and dark intentions. Next you want to make sure that you have some distance between the two of you. Try to keep at least 6 feet between you and him. Don't be afraid to become aggressive if he attempts to encroach upon your space.

After that, scan the area in front of you, at least 180 degrees, for an accomplice. Then take a big step to the left or right (preferably towards a wall) and turn to the side while keeping your eyes on him. For the purposes of this article lets say that you have a building on your right side so you took a big step to your right and then turned 90 degrees counter-clockwise so you're standing with him in front of you and on your rights side. Now just turn your head to the left and scan the area behind you for an accomplice. Done this way you can look around you 360 degrees without ever turning your back on a potential attacker.

If possible try to keep moving. Look around and clear the 180 degrees in front of you, then take your big step to the side, turn counter-clockwise and then keep walking backwards as you scan around you. Or...you can just run like hell.

I'm a big fan of pretending to have a weapon. While I always carry pepper spray and I'm prepared to use it, on many occasions I've looked someone right in the eye while putting my right hand on my hip as if I'm placing my hand on a concealed firearm. There have been a few occasions where someone appeared threatening so I've locked eye contact with them, put my hand on my fake gun, then circled to the other side of him, without breaking eye contact, and slowly backed away. I don't really consider this bluffing because I had pepper spray in my left hand (the one they're not paying attention to) and if they would have so much as took a step towards me or put their hand in their pocket they would have gotten a face full of OC.

The second method of surprise attacks that people commonly use is to tap you on the shoulder then punch you when you turn. This happens quite a bit in bars but it is also prevalent in other areas. To thwart this you never turn around when someone taps you on the shoulder. If you feel someone tap you on your shoulder you should take two steps forewords first and then turn. That way if someone does try to sucker punch you they'll miss. I prefer to raise my arm as I turn just in case they came forwards with me. So if I turned to the right I would rise my right arm and scratch my cheek or cover my mouth or do some other natural movement. To someone watching it would look like I just burped and was covering my mouth to be polite when if actuality I'm getting my arm up so I can put my elbow into an oncoming attack.

If you cannot step forwards when someone taps you then you should always turn with your arm raised as describe above. Or if someone grabs your shoulder and spins you I'd bring my arm up and then step right in to them, preferably with my foot going between their feet and behind them. Anytime someone taps you be prepared for the sucker punch.